Monday, February 26, 2018

Big Thompson, by James Van Pelt

[Analog]
★★★☆☆ Average

(SF) When he was ten, the narrator lost his mother in a flood, but something else happened that left him determined to dedicate his life to searching for extraterrestrial intelligence. (2,440 words; Time: 08m)


"Big Thompson," by (edited by Trevor Quachri), appeared in issue 03-04|18, published on by .

Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)

Pro: The description of the Fermi Paradox is pretty good.

Con: The SF element seems tacked on to the end of the story.

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James Van Pelt Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline

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3 comments (may contain spoilers):

  1. Hi, Greg. Thanks for the review and your continued attention in short fiction. I lived in Colorado at the time of the Big Thompson flood. It was both hard and fascinating to revisit that tragic bit of Colorado history.

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    Replies
    1. Wow. Did you really lose your home (or a loved one) in it?

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    2. Thankfully I did not. I don't think I could fictionalize something that personally tragic. It was quite traumatic for the state, though, when it happened, and I knew people who were in the canyon when it happened.

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